Hometown: Dixon, Mo.
Family: Parents, Dave and Mary Wibberg; siblings, Melissa, Matthew, Joseph and Kristine; and boyfriend Luke Henneke
In Town: Mollie Joe Wibberg is a first-year agriculture education instructor and FFA advisor at Dixon High School, in Dixon, Mo., located in northern Pulaski County.
Mollie has been tasked with building the program basically from scratch.
“I have some older gentlmen who talk about ag and FFA being here back in the 1960, but I haven’t even found anything about that,” she said.
The Northwest Missouri State University grad is the only ag teacher in the district with 96 students, and starting a new program has presented a few challenges, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic changing how teachers can teach.
“One of the biggest challenges is that I have had kids who are learning virtually, not knowing what an ag program is. Not being able to meet them before, I don’t know how to connect with them about agriculture and get them focused in on what they are learning.”
In the Country: Mollie Jo grew up in Linn, Mo., where her family has a farrow-to-finish swine operation, as well as 400 acres of row crops. As she advanced her education, Mollie learned more about other species of livestock.
“We had a few bottle calves growing up, and when I moved to college, I tried to diversify myself a little more,” she explained. “I restored a few tractors with my dad as a college project to get some ag mech experience, and I worked on show sheep farm. When I went to student teach, I lived on a goat farm.”
Mollie Jo may have expanded her hands-on-knowlege of other livestock species, but her heart remains in the swine industry.
“I think it’s because what I grew up with and it’s what I know,” she said. “Sheep and goats are something I don’t always have the knowledge about, so I have to go look it up. In farming, you don’t always have the time to go look up that answer.”
Even though Mollie Jo is about an hour way from her family’s farm, she can still be found there on the weekends, helping out where needed.
Having a connection to agriculture, she said, helps her reach those students who may have little or no knowledge of the industry.
“I’ve found the best way to connect with them is to show them this is real life,” she said. “Sometimes they might not understand the concept behind it, but when you apply it to a real, physical thing they do. Sometimes I include pictures from my farm and when they see me in the pictures, they say ‘Oh, people really do this.’”
